


Other Men

by inabodycastofglass



Series: Old works [10]
Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: F/M, Multiple Relationships, Post-Game, old story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 06:29:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7790266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inabodycastofglass/pseuds/inabodycastofglass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were four men after Asch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Other Men

**Author's Note:**

> An old story from some time between 2011 and 1013. Edited slightly.

There were other men after Asch. Four to be exact. Guy remembered all of them. He remembered them too well.

The first one was named Charlie, but Natalia insisted on calling him Charles. He came a year after Asch and stayed for three months. He was intelligent, but too sure of himself. Though he was usually polite he had a bad habit of telling her to shush when he was talking about something scientific, even when she was asking questions. Guy hated him.

He hadn’t realized they broke up until he heard from Peony. He hurried to Baticul Castle to see if she was all right. She just smiled at him and said good riddance. But it hurt her, he could see in the way she carried herself.

Usually her shoulders were square, her back straight, but now she walked with a slouch, only going back to normal when someone seemed close to noticing.

But she was okay. Within three weeks she was standing up straight again and smiling. “He wasn’t all that great, was he? I was infatuated with his intellect and nothing else.”

And so a month later there was a new one. Raymond. he was a gentleman. It was the only thing Guy found remarkable about him. He held her hand while they walked and pulled out her chair for her even when it wasn’t expected. He always let her speak first. Guy thought he was just a pushover, but he couldn’t deny how kind he was to her. And he hated him.

He lasted six months before Guy showed up at Natalia’s room and heard her crying inside. He fell in love with another girl, she said. A common girl. And she was beautiful.

So she sulked for a few days and then stood back up. If he fell in love with someone else, he wasn’t meant for her. She would have to move on. A princess could not pine over a boy that could never be king.

The next one was a boy younger than her, from a small group of other boys who had made their home in a forest. He was tall, as tall as Guy, and he was happy. His happiness rubbed off on her, and she was smiling too, the kind of smile that didn’t care if anyone else was watching, that seemed fit for a heroine, but not a lady. And Guy didn’t want to admit it, but that was exactly what Natalia needed at that time.

And no matter how much fault Guy found in him, he always had something to make up for it. He wasn’t very intelligent, but he always asked questions and learnt. He was ill mannered, but he made her feel like a lady and an equal. He could never tell she was sad until she was crying, but he always took her out somewhere, and when she came back her eyes were puffy and she was laughing. He was exactly what she needed after all her heart break, and Guy hated him.

He lasted fourteen months before her father decided that she needed to stop fooling around and get serious. She was serious, but she couldn’t be, not with someone common born, not as a princess. If she wasn’t going to marry someone of royal blood, she needed to at least marry someone noble raised, and Moses wasn’t.

   So her recovery took seven months. She cried every time she was alone, and just as often into his lap while he ran his hand over her hair, shaking and breathing deeply. And finally, after seven months, she was able to stand up straight and look people in the eye. And Guy was determined to make sure she could continue.

But there was one more. Emperor Peony himself.

Guy was there for the start of that one. Natalia was visiting them for a conference and playing with the Rappigs, specifically the pup that Peony had given her, named Asch, who was now a year old. She had said something about him settling down and both she and Guy were expecting a laugh and a brush off saying he hadn’t found the right lady yet, though they both knew that was a lie. His lady was just taken by someone else. But instead he wiggled his brows at her and suggested that the two of them date. Neither expected her to shrug and say, “why not”.

But their relationship lasted only a month while the two of them joked about starting their life together; what they would name their children (Guy was not amused to know that “Gailardia” was the top choice for a little girl), how they would spend their time, and how much Peony was allowed to spend at the brothel each month. It was just a game, and they split. It would have been too difficult to deal with the issues it presented between their kingdoms. Both were the only possible rulers, and combining the two held too many complications.

After that Natalia joked about marrying Tear and adopting an heir. Guy laughed, but after Peony nothing would surprise him. But Tear was with Luke, and nothing could break them apart.

So Guy suggested, copying the same joking tone Peony used two months prior, that she marry him. He smiled at first until her he noticed the shocked, contemplative look on her face wasn’t going away.

His smile faltered. “C'mon, Princess. Don’t take me too seriously.”

Still, her expression remained. She placed her hand over her mouth and nearly glared, studying him.

His face started to turn red and he looked away. “It’s not like it would ever work anyway.”

"Why not?“

His head shot back to her, and she was nodding, her face light, her eyes wide, innocent, the way it always was when she made a decision. He, in contrast, just gaped at her, his face so hot he was sure it would start to melt off his bones.

"You are noble born, kind, intelligent, you care for all people, you know the laws and norms of Kimlasca, and you make me happy. I trust you. If anything were to happen, I know you would be there to protect and help me. The only question is, would you have me?”

"Princess?“ He covered his mouth to hide the stupid gaping. "You don’t love me.”

She scoffed, looking out the window. “Guy, do you believe I loved Asch when we were first engaged?” She didn’t wait for an answer. She looked back at him, her expression hard, her eyes narrow. It held no room for argument even without the words that accompanied it. “What do you think a courtship period is for? No one starts out in love, it simply does not work that way. A person falls in love over time, after getting to know that person. Friends differ from lovers in the sense that one cannot see a friend as a lover, cannot imagine holding them, kissing them, loving them.”

She ran her fingers down Asch’s back and he (actually she, but no one dared tell Natalia) squealed and snuggled closer to her. She smiled at him. “If I cannot open myself to you as a lover by the end of the courting period, or you to me, it was a failure and we will start again as we were. Friendship turns to liking, turns to love. It is how the cycle works.”

He couldn’t respond. She made it sound so matter of fact. He knew it wasn’t that simple, but she was also right. And he- How could he pass up the chance to woo the princess, the object of his affections. He was surprised, himself, at this revelation. But he knew it had been there, too afraid to come up for fear of breaking his heart as hers had been. So he just nodded, and she smiled.

“Good.”

And so it began.


End file.
